With 10 first-year runners and seven sophomores on the roster, fourth-year head coach Jared Beers may have the youngest men's cross country team in the NESCAC.

Andy Maguire '11 and Mike Bienkowski '10 will provide veteran leadership along with Jeremy Judge '10. Chris Darrah '10 returns to the team after missing last year because of an injury.

Sophomores Samuel Grant, Matthieu Nadeau, Justin Rouse, and Will Supple return after helping the Mules in their first year. Brian Desmond, Luke Doherty Munro, Tom Letourneau, and Alec Peters could contribute right away as first-year runners.

John Swain '08 lost a shoe in the opening 400 meters and had to run in a driving rain, but still managed to finish eighth at the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) meet in 2006. Swain, who earned All-NESCAC honors for his finish, also placed ninth at the State of Maine meet.

Michael Collins '08 was 64th out of more than 300 runners at the New England Division III meet. The Mules also got some solid finishes last year from Nikolajs Batarags '10 and Chris Darrah '10.

The squad did remarkably well in the classroom last year as well. Six Colby runners made the NESCAC Fall All-Academic Team. Chris Appel '08, Collins, Alex Gill '08, Bob Glotfelty '08, Dan Moss '08, and Dan Vassallo '07 all were honored. Vassallo is a big loss for the Mules after making the NCAA meet a year ago.